Olive Harcourt is a singer and musician of international repute who trained in Dresden and lived in Germany for some years. In 1916 she put her musical career on hold to come to Dorset with sister Florence to work as an orderly at Beaucroft Red Cross Hospital in Colehill.

Her diaries are full of colourful stories about life in a small Red Cross Hospital.

She is 50 in 1918 and comes across as a mother figure to these wounded young boys some of whom pour their hearts out to her as they worry about their futures.

In later life she gave her diaries to her ward Joan Cocozza from Henbury, Bristol. We are hugely grateful for her help, support and encouragement with this project.